Rohit Sharma’s Midas touch in IPL finals and other stats in statistical preview from Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) and Mumbai Indians (MI) clash

7th time MS Dhoni will be the part of an Indian Premier League (IPL) final out of 10 editions, the most by any player in the tournament. He represented Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in his previous 6 finals; this time he will take field for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS).This will be also the first time when Dhoni will play final of IPL as a player, not as captain. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) vs Mumbai Indians (MI) Final

4th time Rohit Sharma will feature in an IPL final. He had been there for Deccan Chargers (DC) in 2009 and Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2013, 2015 and 2017. In terms of being the part of the squad of a final in consecutive seasons, the record stays with Wriddhiman Saha: he was a member of CSK in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in 2014.

4th IPL final for MI, the 2nd-most by a single team after CSK, who have reached the final in 6 editions. One must remember that CSK have played only 8 editions of the tournament and MI 10.

0 finals lost by any team with Rohit in their side. Rohit has played 3 IPL finals so far (2009 for DC, 2013 and 2015 for MI) and has been in the winning side on all 3 occasions. No player has been the part of 4 IPL-winning sides.

3rd time Rohit will be playing IPL final as captain, the 2nd-most by any skipper in the tournament s history after Dhoni (6).

4th clash of MI and RPS in 2017, the most between any teams in this season. This will be the 5th instance of two teams playing 4 times in an IPL season. The previous instances happened between CSK and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2011, CSK and MI in 2013 and 2015 and KXIP and KKR in 2014.

6 T20 final wins for both Dhoni and Rohit so far. Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin have also won six each. Dhoni was a part of these the winning sides in 2007 World T20, 2010 and 2011 IPL, 2010-11 and 2014-15 CLT20 and 2015-16Asia Cup T20. Rohit has won 2007 World T20, 2009, 2013 and 2015 IPL, 2013-14 CLT20 and 2015-16 Asia Cup T20. Either Dhoni or Rohit will move ahead to 7 wins after Sunday s match.

4 overseas captains have led an IPL side in the final: Shane Warne for RR in 2008, Adam Gilchrist for DC in 2009, George Bailey for KXIP in 2014 and David Warner for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Steven Smith will become the 5th captain to achieve this feat. Interestingly, all have been Australians.

0 number of times table topper won the title when they had to play Qualifier 2. The playoffs were introduced in 2011. In 5 out of 6 times the table toppers had lost Qualifier 1 and played Qualifier 2; they then either lost Qualifier 2 or the final. In fact, only once has a Qualifier 2 winner won the IPL. That happened in 2017, when SRH beat RCB in the final.

Table topper	Season	Qualifier 2	Final
RCB	2011	Beat MI by 43 runs	Lost to CSK by 58 runs
DD	2012	Lost to CSK by 86 runs	Lost to KKR by 5 wickets
CSK	2013	Won Qualifier 1; did not play Q2	Lost to MI by 23 runs
KXIP	2014	Beat CSK by 24 runs	Lost to KKR by 3 wickets
CSK	2015	Beat RCB by 3 wickets	Lost to MI by 41 runs
GL	2016	Lost to SRH by 4 wickets	SRH beat RCB by 8 runs

Note: MI are also the only team to win an IPL title after losing Qualifier 1, in 2013. Will they be able to do it again this time?

3 teams to have won IPL title in their first attempt in final Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2008, DC in 2009 and KKR in 2012. This is the first IPL final for RPS. They are the 9th team in the history of tournament to play the final after RR (2008), CSK (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015), DC (2009), RCB (2009, 2011, 2016), MI (2010, 2013, 2015), KKR (2012, 2014), KXIP (2014) and SRH (2016). If they win the final RPS they will become the 4th team to clinch the title in first attempt in final.

1 instance of team defeating their opponent in the final match of the season after losing 3 in the same season. KKR beat KXIP in the 2014 final after losing thrice in the same season. MI have been also beaten by RPS thrice in this season. If MI win they will do an encore of what KKR did in 2014. On the other hand, if RPS win, they will be the first side to register 4 victories against one team in the same season.

8.48 average scoring rate at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal while batting first; this is more than 8.13 by sides batting second in this IPL. Teams batting first have won 5 times here while sides chasing have won 2. The average score at Bengaluru batting first is 170 and for batting second it is 163.

1st time two teams of the same state clashing in an IPL final MI and RPS. Both are part of Maharashtra state in the country. Of course, no other state has two IPL teams.

50.63 batting average of Rohit at Uppal, the 2nd-best for him at any venue with a 3-match cut-off after Eden Gardens (418 at 52.25). Rohit has scored 405 runs from 12 innings here.

1 catch needed for Rohit to complete 50 catches for MI in IPL. He has taken 71 catches in IPL.

48.33 batting average of Smith against MI in IPL, 2nd-best for him against any opponent with a 3-match cut-off after DD (99 runs from 8 matches at 49.5). Smith has scored 290 runs against MI from 9 matches at a strike-rate of 143.6.

3 wickets needed for Harbhajan to reach 150-wicket mark in T20s for MI. He has currently 147 wickets for MI in T20s 127 in IPL and 20 in CLT20. He will become the first Indian to achieve this feat and second overall after Malinga (178 for MI in T20s).

19.4 batting average of Dhoni at Hyderabad in IPL, his worst at any venue with 5-match cut-off. He has scored 97 runs from 5 matches here.

6 times sides batting first in the final have won the title, while only 3 teams have chased successfully. The average score for sides batting first in finals is 181, while for chasing side is 165.

22 runs needed for Rohit to complete 2,000 runs as captain in IPL. He will become the 4th player in the tournament to score 2,000 runs as skipper for a single franchise after Dhoni, (2,986 for CSK), Kohli (3,016 for RCB), Warner (2,051 for Sunrisers Hyderabad) and Gambhir (3,035 for KKR).